Ireland have appointed David Nucifora as their high performance unit manager with the Australian taking up his new role next year.

Nucifora, who was sacked from a similar role with the Australian Rugby Union in December, knows Ireland coach Joe Schmidt well having had the New Zealander as an assistant when he was at the helm of the Blues during the 2006 Super Rugby season.

The former Queensland and Australia hooker coached the Brumbies to the Super Rugby title in 2004 before being driven out of Canberra by player power. He joined the Blues in 2005, as a technical adviser and high-performance manager and was appointed head coach the following year.

Nucifora then was a leading contender for the Wallabies job in 2008, before New Zealand overlooked Robbie Deans for the All Blacks job. He was subsequently involved with the Kiwi in the Australian set-up. He was appointed ARU high performance manager in 2009, and acted as a Test selector and assistant coach. He also coached the Australia Under-20 team.